“I watched proudly as Hillary won over New Yorkers across the state in her race for the Senate seat my father once held,” he said. “Since then, she’s been re-elected in a landslide victory and proven that she is ready to lead this nation from her first day in office. Hillary will inspire the real change America needs.”

Clinton said she was honored to have his support and counsel.”Bobby has worked tirelessly to protect our environment and raise awareness about the dangers of global warming and pollution,” she said in a statement.

Bobby certainly wasted no time in hitting the campaign trail to help Hillary in Iowa, according to QuadCities Online:

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., kicked off his first official day of stumping for presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton Thursday. Mr. Kennedy shared his reasons for why he’s supporting the New York junior senator and met with volunteers at the Davenport Field Office for Hillary Clinton for President.

He called the 2008 election the most critical presidential election of his lifetime and pointed to Sen. Clinton as the Democrat needed to turn it all around.

Mr. Kennedy said he was inspired to back Sen. Clinton because of her strong performance in New York, where she was first elected senator in 2000 and again in 2006 in a landslide victory against Republican candidate John Spencer. “I would hope my experience combined with my personal relationship and knowledge of her record in New York state be one of the things that will help persuade people who may be on the fence that shes’ a candidate worth voting for,” he said.

Prior to officially endorsing her, Mr. Kennedy said he has helped out the campaign in about 20 states through a speaking tour he does. He said now was the time to formally endorse a candidate as the Iowa Caucuses are only five weeks away.

“The largest issues facing our country today are energy and the environment and Hillary’s got the strongest plans for dealing with those things,” said Mr. Kennedy, a 25-year environmental advocate himself. Mr. Kennedy pointed to Sen. Clinton’s goals of getting Americans off all oil – not just foreign oil – and rescuing them from “our carbon addiction.”

From his Davenport stop, Mr. Kennedy headed to Dubuque to continue his series of appearances in eastern Iowa for Sen. Clinton. Although the environmental platform and advocacy sometimes seems contrary to the demands of blazing the campaign trail, Mr. Kennedy said this is not the case.

“You can go out and buy a Prius but its not going to change the world,” he said. “What’s going to change the world is if we have a law that you can’t build a car or sell a car unless its gets 40 miles per gallon.”

Mr. Kennedy said criticizing politicians touting environmental concerns like Al Gore on how they heat their homes, fly in private jets or what type of car they drive, is simply a distraction used by the industry. “(Al Gore) may have burned a lot of fuel, but he changed a lot of minds and he’s now changed the political system, the political framework and dialogue in our country,” he said. “At some point because of him all of us are going to be driving more efficient cars, because of the fuel he used to get from place to place, every American is going to be driving more fuel efficient cars and living more efficiently,” he said. “So I’d say that it was that fuel that was probably the best spent fuel that we could possibly have.”

Better to just throw the floor open to your comments at this point, my fellow Kennedy supporters. What do you think? Is the RFK/Clinton alliance a match made in heaven? Or has he just made a deal with the devil?

6 responses

While looking through the blogosphere I stumbled upon your interesting post today. One thing he said in his statement really troubled me (well, actually, ALL of it troubles me): “Hillary Clinton has the strength and experience to bring the war in Iraq…”

How can she have the “strength and experience” to end a war in Iraq that she voted FOR?

Has he forgotten that it was the Clinton administration who not only bombed the shit out of Iraq for years, but also continued the economic embargo on that country that helped to create the mess-o-potamia that it is today? Y’know, the Clintons aren’t very popular in the Middle East…the people over there don’t like them any better than Bush. So i’m just wondering what grand plan Hillary has for peace in the region…

He speaks against the war in Iraq and says he wants to see our troops come home – I agree! He talks about “the rotten politicians” who are totally controlled by corporations, and I agree! In his speech at LIVE EARTH he said we need to get rid of them all, and I agree! So how can he turn around and give the pro-war, corporate candidate Hillary Clinton his endorsement for President? Is he with the people or the democratic party machine?

He says George bush has made the USA “the most hated nation on earth” and that is the reason he is considering running for public office. He has said that he would run because he wants to help save the country, and God knows we need someone in the 2008 race who truly believes this and is willing to fight the good fight. If he is serious about helping us save America, then why won’t he stop talking and start running?

Sorry, I don’t mean to run the man down…actually I have always liked him and what he has to say. I loved John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy Sr. and would love to see RFK jr. run for President in `08 if he is cut of the same fine cloth that they were. But it seems his actions contradict his words, and I think I’ve raised some legitimate concerns in this post so I hope the admins won’t delete this!!!

If RFK Jr. happens to read this blog, I have only one question for him:

Someone asked which side he was on? If Bobby was on the side of the people or the Democratic Party Machine. I think that is a valid question.

I can only speak what I feel and no one else. I believe that Bobby still is on the side of the people. I believe he really cares about us and has not abandon his principles, his moral courage to tell the truth and fight for what is right.

Saying that, I also know from my years of being Committee Precint women within my party that many times you have to support people you don’t really care about so that when your time comes to run that they will support you. If Bobby is looking to run for office himself he may be thinking that this endorsement of Clinton will help him when the time comes. I no longer am very active in my party because I couldn’t go along with all the double speak of both political parties and the games played. I am still a Democrat but I am more Independent in my thinking. I am no longer interested in seeking political office so I am more free to listen to my heart.

We either trust Bobby or we don’t. I trust him and know that what he is doing is something that he feels he has to do for now. I don’t think he is going to hold it against us if we do not vote for Hilary for many of the same reasons that he stated in the past.

I would encourage you to vote your heart. Don’t judge him to harshly for his endorsement of Clinton and accept that he is still one of us and is fighting for the people. He is on our side, and just trust that he is doing what he thinks is best right now for the future of this country, even if we at this time can’t see the reasons or understand them.